Windows 10 Anniversary Update may freeze your computer

Windows 10 Anniversary Update may freeze your computer. It’s just been few days Microsoft released Windows 10 anniversary update making lots of improvements of built-in features like Narrator and Magnifier as well as the accessibility of experiences and apps like Cortana, Mail and setup. There seems to be a major issue with this update. Few days ago I installed Windows 10 Anniversary update on my PC and I myself experienced this issue. My computer often hangs, file explorer takes time to show up and lot of other issues. Microsoft has received a small number of reports of Windows 10 freezing after installing the Anniversary Update on systems with the operating system stored on a solid-state drive (SSD) and apps and data stored on a separate drive. As per Microsoft this issue does not occur when starting Windows 10 in Safe Mode. Although Microsoft is looking into what’s causing this freeze-inducing bug, it doesn’t have a patch yet.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update may freeze your computer

Workaround for Windows 10 Anniversary Update freeze issue

If you have installed Windows 10 Anniversary update and if you are facing the issue you could try the workaround mentioned below. In the meantime, you can work around this issue by signing into Windows 10 using Safe Mode to move your apps and data to the same drive as your operating system.

Installation of the Anniversary Update does include the ability to “go back” or return to the previous version of Windows within 10 days of the update. If you are unable to log into Windows 10 and choose to uninstall the Anniversary Update, here are two methods that can be used:

Method 1: Using the Recovery Console

Restart your PC. When you get to the sign-in screen, hold the Shift key down while you select Power > Restart.

After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Go back to the previous build. If you don’t see this option, try Method 2.

Method 2: Using the Settings app from Safe Mode

Restart your PC. When you get to the sign-in screen, hold the Shift key down while you select Power > Restart.

I am Prajwal Desai and I have been working in the IT for over 8 years with a strong focus on Microsoft Server Technologies. For the last five years, as a System Administrator I have been working on Lync, SCCM, Vmware, VDI, Exchange, Windows Servers etc. I’m currently very interested in everything related to Azure, Configuration Manager, Lync, Windows Server and Exchange.